the awesomest things about two-year-olds

I have known a few two-year-olds in my day. I have even mothered a few of them. I think this qualifies me to compile a list of my favorite things about two year olds, but more specifically *my* two-year-old. Happy Birthday Lee Sullivan Hunter.

I love that whenever I hear someone mention the "terrible twos," I roll my eyes and tell the closest willing listener that there is no such thing - the "terribles" don't hit until three years old. Then when you manage to write on the furniture, dump and break several bottles of fabric softener, bleach, toilet cleaner (with ammonia) and white vinegar all over the laundry room floor (yes I said BLEACH and AMMONIA. . .mixing), pee on the rug, pull the dog's ears, break all the crayons, and run out the front door naked to the street - all within the amazingly short time span of 15 minutes- I am handed a gentle confirmation that the "twos" can in fact be "terrible."

More than that, I love that when I show even the slightest inclincation to be angry about any of your "terrible" actions, you have this amazing ability to sense it and you tilt your head to the side, opens your eyes wide and croon, "I lub you, Mommy." Man, I *love* this age.

I love that you apologize to people even when you didn't do anything wrong. If Guthrie hurts Adeline and I am trying to help them work it out, you give her hugs and tell her "sowwy, Addie."

The only thing I love more than hearing you tell me that you love me, is hearing you tell Guthrie and Adeline that you love them.

I love that even two years later, if you're tired and nothing else is working to get you to sleep, I can tuck you into our Mei tai and you'll be snoozing in five minutes. You are a baby who loves your baby carriers. We have gone through so many different kinds since you were born and I have held onto five of them that have too much emotional significance for me to get rid of them:

*The blue and green pouch sling that Aunt Ashley made for us when you were only a few days old. I had my hands full with Addie and Guthrie in those first few weeks while daddy was still in Mexico. It was so wonderful to drop you in the pouch and know you were happy and safe while I was busy.
*The old, ugly, Mayan ring sling that was a hand-me-down from Adeline's baby days. She never really liked it much but you and I have recuped our money's worth, so much in fact that even though it is the ugliest carrier I've ever seen, I can't handle the thought of getting rid of it and I'll wear it with any outfit and not even care that I look like a homeless hippie.

*The Ergo that has carried you up ruins, around museums, through domestic and foreign cities, in underground caves and through too many airport trips to count.

*The old Mexican rebozo that I picked up for $4US at the Mercado del Sol in downtown Guadalajara. Its super authentic and kind of cool looking. Sometimes we like to use it in the states just to remember the smell of Mexico.

*And of course, our trusty ol' Mei tai. I can't remember exactly when this came to us, but I think it was around your 6-month birthday. Here's a picture for daddy so he can see how you looked tonight before I tucked you into bed on your second birthday! He misses you so much. When I told him that you are almost completely potty-trained he was so sad to think that he would never get to see you in diapers again. I think he feels like I took a baby away from him and I'm trying to bring him back a little boy instead.

We know its a bad picture - but we're just glad there was a cell phone around the grab it!

Sully, you are truly amazing. You have brought out a whole different dimension to my personality, my heart and my life - a part of me that I truly never knew existed. You make our whole family brighter and happier just by being your happy, bubbly self. Sometimes Guthrie, Addie and I will be laughing about something you've done and they will both go out of their way to tell me they love you so much. Adeline sometimes thinks it would be a good idea to trade you in for a girl baby, but that's just because you won't play fairy princesses with her.

And the most amazing thing about two-year-olds has to be how quickly they get there.

It seems like just yesterday, I was anxiously waiting for you to come. Your due date was June 6, 2006, which made for lots of laughs about your name being Damion (6/6/06) and all the trouble you would cause. I was so uncomfortable at the end of your pregnancy that I was fantisizing about ways to "accidentally" break my own water to cause labor to start. I had contractions every night for weeks that would come five minutes apart. Each night I would try to sleep but would be awake with contractions until the early morning. I would eventually doze off and nothing could stop my sadness at waking up pregnant later that morning.

On June 4TH, 2006 my contractions seemed to get stronger and by 11:00 that night I was pretty certain you would be coming soon. I even called Grandma Hunter to let her know that you would most likely make your appearance that night. I tried to rest but I was just too excited to think that I would get to see your face soon. In the early morning hours, when I just couldn't sit still anymore, Grandma Guthrie walked with me in circles around the neighborhood to try to speed things up. By 8:00 a.m., the morning of the 5TH, I was exhausted and you didn't seem to be any closer to coming out. The contractions were still coming but I couldn't keep my eyes open any more and Grandma sent me to bed to "try to sleep." I didn't think it was possible, but somehow I slept. I woke up several hours later to contractions that had all but stopped and I'll admit that I cried and cried.

Grandma convinced me to take a long shower and get myself as ready as a nine-months-pregnant woman in the heat of an Arizona June day cares to be, and we met for lunch at a restaurant near Grandma's work. It was while we were having lunch that my contractions picked up again and they finally began to take on the intensity that signaled to me that this really *was* going to happen.

Aunt Ashley decided it would be fun to go walking around the mall to see if we could really get labor going. I always thought it sounded fun to be out in public with your little secret labor going on. I was having a hard time keeping it a secret at the mall, though. The contractions were very regular and began to turn into real labor pains. I realized the LAST place I wanted to be as I prepared to birth a baby was at the mall. Ashley drove me home where I alternated between the bed with the massager on my back, to the shower for as long as the hot water would last, and back to the bed. I *really* wanted to sleep at this point and was pretty mad at myself for not trying harder to sleep through the night before.

At 7:00 p.m. I was feeling tired and unsure if any of my hard work was helping. I called our midwife and she agreed to meet me at her office for a quick check. She said she knew I wasn't far along just from looking at my face when I greeted her. I made a mental note to scowl more next time I was in labor. She found that I was about 4 cm dilated and all the way effaced. We were definitely in labor but the hardest work was yet to come. We all realized I hadn't eaten since lunch much earlier that day. Marla, our midwife, gave us strict instructions to go eat something light and to call her when we were ready to go to the birth center. (She later told me that she figured I would "tough it out" for a couple of hours and we would meet at the birth center around 10:30.)

I asked my mom to get me a salad from Sonic and I actually ate it right there in the car. It was almost 8:00 p.m. when we got back to Grandma's and I told her that I was NOT going to be able to work so hard for much longer. I promised I would try to make it until 10:00 and then we were going to call Marla. I started my rotations between the shower, the bed, and the massager. At 9:30 p.m., while I was in the shower, I had a very long contraction and just as it was starting to relax, I felt it climb back to its peak again. I realized that I had just done the VERY thing that I wanted to avoid. I waited too long to go to the birth center and now I was going to go through transition in the car. I no longer had any doubt that you were coming soon. I climbed out of the shower and told Grandma that we needed to go - NOW. We called the midwife while Grandpa loaded the car. As soon as we made contact, we started the 30-minute drive to Bethany Birth Center.

We arrived at the birth center at 10:40 p.m. according to your medical chart. Marla commented that based on my exam earlier, she had been estimating we would be meeting at the birth center around 10:30. What she didn't expect was that I would be 9 cm dilated and ready to welcome you into the world right then. We had just enough time to fill the birth tub, take my blood pressure, and turn on the video camera before the final contractions did their job.

I started pushing at 11:13 and your chart says you were born at 11:20. Grandma held her cell phone by mommy's head so daddy could hear everything that was going on while you were born. He said he only heard a "little scream" from mommy. Don't worry, mommy was just excited to have you coming and she had to yell about it.

You were squishy, round, and perfect! I kept telling daddy, on the phone, that you were cute. But I realized a moment later that I hadn't even looked at your face yet. Right then, I started to lose a little blood so Grandma held you while I got cleaned up and put on my warm jammies. The nurse weighed you and said you were only 7 pounds 3.5 ounces. We were all shocked because you looked like such a big baby. We later found out that you were really 9 pounds 3.5 ounces. The scale had a broken display!

The midwife and nurse told us to settle in and get some sleep but I just wanted to take you home and snuggle in our own bed. We fell into bed exhausted and we BOTH slept all night long. And. . .now that you're two, I'm going to ask you to start sleeping all night long again.

I imagine Guthrie will always be protective of you. He is so concerned about you all the time. He tells me when he thinks you're hungry, bored, in trouble, or just needing me. You are so lucky to have him as your big brother.

This was your first trip to Puerto Vallarta. You were only two months old and didn't care about much, other than when your next feeding would take place. The rest of us enjoyed the sun, pool, and the beach. Daddy had fun showing you off at his medical clinic.


And in the blink of an eye - you were walking and talking. Now we can't slow you down or shut you up!! Happy Birthday Baby Sully!